


The Movie Rights

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drama, F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-08-11
Packaged: 2017-12-23 04:22:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/921935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strong, badass female FBI agent discovers a serial killer amongst her own and tries to solve the case before she becomes his next victim.  Or something like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Movie Rights

**Author's Note:**

> I can't help but feel that Erin Strauss got screwed, and not in a good way. I think my writing keeps reflecting that though I try to do it without being angsty or bitter. I’m not sure if I succeeded but the characters keep compelling me to tell these stories. I hope fans of the character feel that I do her justice.

“You are never going to guess…” Erin stopped in the doorway. “What are you doing?”

Dave stopped and looked at his wife. “Sit ups…sort of.”

“I've never seen you do a sit up and I've known you for 25 years.”

“Oh c'mon, this awesome body is only about 20 to 30% the grace of God. I work on the rest.”

“We have a home gym.” She said. “We have a gym that you never use. There's an elliptical, a bike, a treadmill, all of that. You never even go in there except when you go on a neat freak kick.”

“I work out at the gym.” Rossi replied. “I go two or three times a week.”

“You do?” she walked further into the bedroom.

“Yes. I say to you sometimes ‘hey baby, I'm going to the gym’.”

“I thought that was a euphemism for something.”

“Like what?” Dave asked.

“I don't know,” Erin shrugged. “A strip club, a cigar bar; places where men go when they tell their wives they're going to the gym.”

“When I say I'm going to the gym it’s where I go.”

“Oh,” she crossed her eyes and nodded. “Hmm.”

“What am I never going to guess?” Rossi stood up from the carpet when he asked. He moved the Ab Roller out of the way so he wouldn’t trip over it.

“What?”

“You came in asking me what I was never going to guess. Then my body distracted you.”

“Oh please.”

Erin rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed. Dave grabbed a towel from the end of the bed, wiping the sweat from his brow and chest.

“How many sit ups do you do a day?” she asked.

“Two hundred. One hundred in the morning and one hundred at night. Morgan does 500…I'm just trying to catch up with him.”

“Good luck with that.”

“While it’s a turn on, I'm gonna ignore your sass.”

She grinned, patting the bed beside her. That made Rossi smile too. He threw his tee shirt back on and sat down.

“I just got off the phone with Kirk.” She said.

“Is everything alright?” her husband asked.

“Everything is a fuckin mess, but you already knew that. But he told me something very interesting.”

“What's that?”

“They want to do a TV movie.”

“Who is they?”

“Lifetime.” Erin replied.

“There are a lot of TV movies on Lifetime. I've actually seen some of them. What's this latest one going to be about?”

“Me.”

“I'm sorry what?”

“That was pretty much my reaction.” Erin nodded.

“Lifetime wants to do a movie about you?”

Kirk called Erin that evening to tell her that he’d gotten a call from a friend of a friend in L.A. Her story was getting around, though he claimed to have no idea how. The _Politico_ article wasn’t out for two weeks, though it had been sort of national news that a serial killer attempted to murder the Section Chief of the BAU. It was a department made famous by _The Silence of the Lambs_. 

Most didn’t even know the unit was run by a woman. For some reason this made the story more intriguing. It made it quite intriguing to television networks. Strong, badass female FBI agent discovers a serial killer amongst her own and tries to solve the case before she becomes his next victim. Or something like that.

“Kirk was told someone is writing the script to fit Robin Wright.”

“Really? Her acting skills have vastly improved over the years.” Dave said. “She might be badass enough to play you. Jessica Lange is still my number one choice.”

“David, they want to make a TV movie about me. What in the hell?”

“I don’t know if two hours is enough to capture your awesomeness.” He smiled.

“I need you to be serious.” She thumped his thigh with her fist.

“You think I'm not being serious? They took your job…pushing you aside as if you haven’t sacrificed too damn much for the Bureau. I want everything to be about you, Erin. Bring on the magazine covers, TV movies; bring on the sneakers, tee shirts, and fan pages. Wonder Woman is awesome but little girls can look up to Erin Strauss too.”

“I'm perfectly content being behind the scenes.”

“They're probably hoping you're content to keep your mouth shut.” Dave said. “I love how much of a kick in the nuts this will be.”

Erin just didn’t want to think about the backlash. The Bureau, the federal government, could make someone’s life miserable. She knew it to be true and had seen it happen to people. She could be sacrificed like a virgin to the gods of complicity while men like Curtis were welcomed into the gilded hallways with open arms. 

Fighting this battle was important to her. Erin just wasn’t sure what would happen when the war was over. Kirk was powerful and she was strong. But there was always danger when you were faced with a man having to accept his wrongness and its consequence.

“I do love Robin Wright.” She spoke in a low tone.

“My life has been quite adventurous and not once have I gotten a movie offer. You're amazing, baby.” Dave put his arm around her shoulder. He pulled her close and kissed her temple.

“You don’t have to hide the fact that you do sit ups from me you know.” Erin said. “Taking care of your body is sexy.”

“And there's that sass again. I love you, Erin.”

“I love you too. Oh, and next week I'm going to be on Sam and Cokie. Though they don’t call it that anymore. At least I didn’t show my age and say David Brinkley.”

“You just did. It’s George Stephanopoulos now, by the way. What's the discussion?”

“They want to talk about the changing face of the FBI. I think I might be the new Clarice Starling.”

“You're going to get female recruitment up.” Dave said.

“Well, the world has changed. People see the movie now and think of Hannibal as the hero.”

“It’s Tony Hopkins…he has a way with people.”

“I don’t know if I want to be the face of the FBI.” Erin said. “I wish things could go back to the way they used to be.”

“For the past four years all kinds of things have happened that we've had little control over. You have control over this.”

“Do I?”

“Yeah.” Dave nodded. “You can say yes, you can say no. You can stay and fight or you can pack up and move on. No one is going to think less of you either way.”

“They took something from me, David. John Curtis tried to take my life from me.” She said. “I want to fight, I want to kick ass; I want to win. I just don’t know how many of us will be standing when it’s all over.”

“We will.” Dave squeezed her hand. “It’s always gonna be you and me, baby.”

Dave just held her, feeling Erin sigh against him. He never saw any of this coming and surely she didn’t either. But if the people responsible thought they would just get away then they were sadly mistaken. Maybe it was war they wanted, which seemed silly since the Bureau had seen its share of public embarrassment over the years. It was war they got and the good guys had better weapons and more brains. Erin and her supporters, including her husband, might not win every battle. But they all knew this was one worth fighting.

***


End file.
